Fleming remembered fondly by his players

By Wayne Fish Staff writer

Wednesday

Mar 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

PHILADELPHIA — Going into the 2002 Winter Olympics, Team Canada had some question marks — like how it was going to get three different personalities like Pat Quinn, Ken Hitchcock and Jacques Martin to work together.

Enter Wayne Fleming, a gentleman who knew how to bring people together and onto the same page.

That story had a happy ending. Fleming — about to embark on a three-year stint as an assistant coach with the Flyers — acted as a go-between for head coach Quinn and his assistants, and Canada won the gold medal at Salt Lake City.

Sadly, Fleming’s career came to an end Monday when he lost a lengthy battle to brain cancer. He was 62.

“He was really the glue of the Team Canada coaching staff for the 2002 Olympics,” Hockey Canada chief Bob Nicholson said in a published interview. “He was the guy that brought Pat Quinn and Ken Hitchcock and Jacques Martin together. That’s what Wayne is, he just does it in the background. If you talk to any of those guys, they’ll give all the credit in the world to him for us winning gold for the first time in 50 years.”

Fleming would go on to coach under Hitchcock on the Flyers’ staff from 2002-06.

Simon Gagne played for Fleming in the 2002 Olympics and also on the 2004 Flyers team that came within a goal of going to the Stanley Cup finals.

“I remember seeing (Fleming) crying and so happy for everyone,’’ Gagne said before Tuesday night’s game. “He was a big part of Team Canada for many, many years.

“Then he finally got a chance to win a gold medal at the Olympics. That’s the first thing that comes to mind, a guy who was really close to the players but a really good coach technically.’’

In addition to the Flyers, Fleming also served as an assistant for Phoenix, the New York Islanders, Edmonton, Calgary and Tampa Bay.

Fleming is the second former Flyers assistant coach to be struck down by cancer. E.J. McGuire, who served under Mike Keenan in the ’80s and Bill Barber in the early 2000s, also died from cancer.

Gagne said Fleming had a lot of influence on Hitchcock.

“He had a lot of say what kind of system we were going to play,’’ Gagne said. “Hitch was smart, but Wayne was a big part of it. It’s just a sad day to lose a guy like that.’’

Chris Therien, who played for Fleming in Philadelphia and is now on the radio broadcast team, has fond memories of the early days with Fleming back in Canada.

“I thought he was a classic assistant coach in the fundamentals,” Therien said. “It’s a sad day for hockey and Hockey Canada. It’s a tough day for the people who had a chance to play for him.’’